The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Guzmania plant, botanically known as Guzmania cardinalis×Guzmania wittmackii and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Flo’.
The new Guzmania plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventors in Laarne, Belgium. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Guzmania plants having unique bract colors and enhanced postproduction longevity.
The new Guzmania originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventors in January, 2009 in Laarne, Belgium of an unnamed proprietary selection of Guzmania cardinalis, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unnamed proprietary selection of Guzmania wittmackii, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Guzmania plant was discovered and selected by the Inventors as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Laarne, Belgium in January, 2011.
Asexual reproduction of the new Guzmania plant by tissue culture in a controlled environment in Laarne, Belgium since June, 2012 has shown that the unique features of this new Guzmania plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.